A Comparative Analysis of Representation of and Nominations for Women in Local Government Elections in Selected Districts: 2006 2011

Chulani Kodikara

International Center for Ethnic Studies

Colombo
June 2012

WORKING DRAFT: NOT FOR CIRCULATION OR CITATION

Contents

Introduction 1. 2. Representation of Women: 2006 and 2008/2009/2011 Local Government Elections Nominations for Women: 2006 and 2011 Local Government Elections

References

Introduction
It is often easier for women to participate in local than at the national level, because eligibility criteria for the local level are less stringent, and local government is the closest to the womens sphere of life, and easier to combine with rearing children. It can be the first level that women can break into and as such it may serve as a springboard to national politics, by developing capacities and gaining experiences. Likewise local politics can be more interesting to women as they are well acquainted with their community, being the major users of space and services in the local community (water, electricity, waste disposal, health clinics, and other social services). They also participate actively in organisations in their neighbourhood, and its easier to involve these organisations in formal political decision making at the local level. Evertzen (2001) 2011). This has been attributed to many reasons including socio-cultural barriers, womens own lack of interest in politics, exclusive political party structures, unwillingness of political parties to nominate women, etc. Although the figures for nominations of women in local government show an upward trend, research indicates that this is mainly due to independent groups and smaller political parties, which proliferated following the introduction of the proportional representation system and filled their lists with women while the nominations of women by the major political parties that actually win elections have remained more or less stagnant over the years (Kodikara 2009). Against this backdrop the Women and Media Collective (WMC) and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) along with womens organisations from five districts across the country initiated a programmeChanging Minds: Nominations and Votes for Womento increase the percentage of women being nominated. The main goal was to increase the number of women nominees to at least 20% in 50 party lists (including the two largest political parties and smaller parties representing the minority Tamil and Muslim communities in SL) in local government elections in 5 selected districts of Badulla, Galle, Kurunegala, Moneragala and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. In parallel, this programme also sought to enhance the possibilities of success of the women nominated by profiling and highlighting women leaders at the local level, raising awareness within communities about the negative implications of the very low representation of women in Local Councils, and highlighting the value of increasing representation both by supporting nominations for women and voting for women. The local initiatives undertaken by womens groups in this regard were to be strengthened with advocacy amongst political party leaders at the national level. This baseline study was conducted to serve as a reference point or benchmark to enable a comparison between 2006 and 2011 statistics and also as a tool to measure the impact of the Changing Minds programme in the selected districts. The aim of this study is to unmask and disaggregate national averages and statistics on representation and nominations with a view to identifying and analysing patterns and trends in and pathways to representation and nomination of women in local government elections in Sri Lanka. This, in turn, would better inform advocacy and public action seeking to enhance the number of women in local government in the country. The focus of this study is twofold. Firstly, it compares the number of women elected to local government bodies following the 2006 local government elections with figures from the 2008, 2009

and 2011 local government elections disaggregated by district, party and ethnicity across all 24 districts of the country; referred to henceforth as representation statistics.1 Secondly, it compares the level of nominations granted to women between the 2006 and 2011 local government elections by the four major political parties UPFA, UNP, JVP, and the TNAdisaggregated by ethnicity, in the districts of Badulla, Galle, Kurunegala, Moneragala and Trincomalee; referred to henceforth as nomination statistics. Therefore, to begin with, this report paints an Island-wide picture of womens representation in local government, even while focusing in greater detail on womens representation in the 5 selected districts. Subsequently, the report focuses on a detailed analysis of nomination statistics across the 5 selected districts where the Changing Minds programme was implemented. The data concerning nominations had to be compiled from original nomination papers filed by political parties with the Department of Elections and it was beyond the scope of this project to undertake a scrutiny of all nomination papers filed across the country. The importance of collecting statistics disaggregated by sex goes back to the First World Conference on Women and is now well accepted in development as much as feminist circles, both to identify the gender dimensions of various social phenomena and problems faced by women and also to formulate appropriate responses to address these concerns and problems. The United Nations (UN) has consistently called for more disaggregated data in all areas of development. According to the UN, the dearth of information on womens activities across all sectors has led to a lack of understanding of the different worlds that women and men live in be it with respect to education, work, health, personal security or even leisure time. The result has been policy that has been ill-formed, strategy [that is] unfounded and practice unquestioned. (United Nations, 1995: xvii). In Sri Lanka, fairly comprehensive sex-disaggregated data in relation to education and health is collected as a matter of routine but there is limited or no sex-disaggregated data in relation to many other areas including nominations for women in elected political bodies. In relation to representation of women in local government in Sri Lanka, the Department of Elections compiles statistics on the number of women elected to local government by Councils but this information is not disaggregated by party, ethnicity or by even by district. Data on nominations for women in local government elections are in fact not compiled at all leave alone disaggregation by party, ethnicity or district. This study therefore seeks to fill this critical gap in data even while underlining the need to urgently review the official election data-gathering frameworks from a gender perspective. In fact, the task of collecting such sex-disaggregated data is rendered even more difficult by the fact that nomination papers currently do not have a column to indicate the sex of the candidate. The sex of the candidate is also not indicated in the nominations information published in the Gazette of the government of Sri Lanka, election statistics compiled by the Department of Elections or information available on their website. For the purpose of this study, information regarding the sex of candidates was ascertained from their National Identity Card (NIC) numbers, which are coded for sex, included in the nomination papers filed with the Department of Elections in the districts of Badulla, Galle, Kurunegala, Moneragala, and Trincomalee.

1. Representation of Women: 2006 and 2008/2009/2011 Local Government Elections

The local government system in Sri Lanka is a three-tier system comprising Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas, currently 23, 41 and 271 in number respectively. Local government bodies are mainly tasked with the provisioning of various public goods and services required by rural, urban and metropolitan populations. The size of each differs according to the geographical area it serves and the population in the area. The population of a local authority area ranges from around 30,000 to 250,000 people (Slater 1997:256). The composition of each local council thus varies from as many as 53 members in the Colombo Municipal Council, the single largest local body in the country, to small Pradeshiya Sabhas comprising no more than 7 members. Currently, there are over 4000 elected members across all local authorities in Sri Lanka. Role and Function of local government authorities While local government has a long history in Sri Lanka, going back to pre colonial times, the present structure derives its powers and functions from three pieces of legislation: The Urban Councils Ordinance of 1939, The Municipal Councils Ordinance of 1947, and The Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987. The Pradeshiya Sabha Act defines the role of local government as the regulation and control of all matters relating to public health, utilities and thoroughfares and protection and promotion of the comfort, convenience and welfare of the people. Under the Act, local authorities have also been granted a wide range of functions including the construction and maintenance of roads, drains, culverts and bridges, public building, markets and fairs, waste disposal, water supply, setting up libraries, etc. Although, there is provision, at least in the Pradeshiya Sabha Act for initiating development activities, local authorities have not played a key role with regard to broader development planning and projects due to lack of capacities and adequate funds. Around two-thirds to three fourths of their revenues generally go towards meeting administrative costs and other recurrent expenditures, leaving them dependent on grants from the Central Government for development activities. As a result, it is rare to find local authorities exercising significant power over capital-intensive projects even in areas within their purview. Another reason that local government bodies have been restricted in their scope to the provision of a few services and facilities, and from undertaking significant economic upliftment programmes within their jurisdictions may be due to a tendency within Central Government to implement its policies and programmes through its administrative apparatus rather than elected local bodies (ICES n.d., Slater 1997). Areas Under the Purview of Local Government Fire protection Preschools Kindergarten and Nursery Family welfare services Welfare Homes Primary Health care Health protection Housing and Town planning Roads Water and Sanitation Refuse collection and disposal Cemeteries and crematoria Slaughterhouses Museums and Libraries Parks and open spaces

As Richard Slater points out local government reforms which took place in Sri Lanka in 1991 recognised, in principle, the need for effective accountability between elected representatives and voters, establishing mechanisms such as Peoples Committees (Slater 1997) and granting people the right to observe meetings of local government bodies.2 Slater also identifies the lowering of the age threshold for local councilors to overcome the traditional age /elite bias of elected members and the implementation of the youth quota as other mechanisms to improve accountability and access to governance.3 There are however serious concerns with respect to womens representation in local authorities. Currently women comprise 1.9% of all elected members across all three types of local bodies. This marks an increase of an abysmal 0.2 % over a twenty-year period, from 1991 to 2011. Table 14: Womens Representation in Local Government from 1966 as a % of total membership
Municipal Councils 1966 1970 1979 1982 1991 1997 2006 2008-2011# 1.1 2.9 2.8 1.3 2.9 3.4 3.0 Urban Councils *1.9 *1.4 2.3 1.7 2.5 2.6 3.4 Pradeshiya Sabhas ** ** ** ** 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.8 1.9 Total

Source: Kearney (1981:742), Leiten (2000: 122) and Ministry of Womens Empowerment and UNDP (2008:14). * Statistics under Urban Councils in 1966 and 1970 include Urban and Town Councils which existed at that time. ** Elections not held # Throughout this document the current period is shown as spanning 2008-2011 because local authorities are functioning with members elected in 2008 (9 local authorities in Batticaloa), 2009 (one local authority each in Jaffna and Vavuniya respectively), and 2011. The 2011 elections were held on a staggered basis on 17 March 2011, 23 July 2011 and 8 October 2011 to elect members for 322 of the 335 local authorities in the country. Elections to two other local authorities in Mullaitivu District are due but have been repeatedly postponed due to alleged delays in resettling internally displaced persons.

This national average however masks significant variations at the district and individual council levels as well as in terms of parties and the ethnic composition of women councilors.

Sec 11 read together with sec 184 of The Pradeshiya Sabha Act No.15 of 1987 and regulations passed by the Minister in 1988. 3 A study of the composition of elected members in 52 local authorities conducted by the UPU of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Provincial Councils did find that around one-third of elected members were below 35 years of age and that almost 14% of Chairmen were also from this same age category (Slater 1997:257). 4 Local government elections are normally meant to be held every four years. However, the election cycle has been disrupted due to various factors including the war, changes to the local government system, etc. This table therefore reflects an uneven periodicity.
2

Representation of women by districts 2006 to 2008-2011 Following the 2006 elections, the district of Colombo had the highest representation of women (5.17%) followed by 4.2% in Trincomalee. In the other districts the representation of women ranged between 0.5% in Kurunegala to 2.95% in Anuradhpura. There was only 1 woman elected from all councils in the districts of Moneragala, Polonnaruwa, and Matale respectively while not a single woman was elected to any local authority in the entire district of Hambantota. Following the 2008-2011 elections, womens representation was again highest in Colombo with 4.74% of elected representatives being women, this was followed by Jaffna (3.57%), Trincomalee (3.38%), Batticaloa (3.12%) and Gampaha (3.10%). Only 1 woman was elected across all local bodies in the districts of Matale, Hambantota, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle and Vavuniya respectively while there was not a single woman elected in the districts of Moneragala, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Killinochchi. Table 2: Representation of Women by District
2006
District Total no of councilors No. Of Women % of women

2008/2009/2011
Total no of councilors No. Of Women % of women

Colombo Gampaha Kalutara Kandy Matale Nuwara Eliya Galle Matara Hambantota Kurunegala Puttalam Anuradhapura Polonnaruwa Rathnapura Kegalla Badulla Moneragala Batticaloa Ampara Trincomalee Jaffna Kilinochchi Mannar Vavuniya Mullaitivu Total

290 354 235 331 137 140 244 200 138 338 161 203 91 229 195 216 104 27 192 118 3943 74

15 5 6 6 1 2 2 3 0 2 3 6 1 4 3 6 1 0 3 5 -

5.17% 1.41% 2.55% 1.81% 0.72% 1.42% 0.81% 1.50% 0.00% 0.59% 1.86% 2.95% 1.09% 1.74% 1.53% 2.77% 0.96% 0.0% 1.56% 4.23% 1.87%

295 354 235 338 155 140 244 200 141 340 161 203 91 229 195 215 104 128* 201 118 224* 38 46 52* 18 4465

14 11 4 6 1 2 2 3 1 3 3 3 1 4 1 5 0 4 4 4 8 0 0 1 0 85

4.74% 3.10% 1.70% 1.77% 0.64% 1.42% 0.81% 1.5% 0.70% 0.88% 1.86% 1.47% 1.09% 1.74% 0.51% 2.32% 0.0% 3.12% 1.99% 3.38% 3.57% 0.0% 0.0% 1.92% 0.0% 1.90%

Source: Compiled by the International Center for Ethnic Studies, May 2012

With reference to the five districts that were the focus of the Changing Minds programme, there was a slight increase in representation of women in Kurunegala from 0.59% to 0.88%. In Galle, representation remained stable, while in the other three districts of Badulla, Moneragala and Trincomalee there was a slight decrease in womens representation. Table 3: Womens Representation in the Selected Districts 2006 Total No. of No of % of District
counselors Women Women

2011
Total No. of counselors No of Women % of Women

Badulla Galle Kurunegala Moneragala Trincomalee

215 244 338 104 118

6 2 2 1 5

2.7% 0.81% 0.59% 0.96% 4.2%

215 244 340 104 118

5 2 3 0 4

2.32% 0.81% 0.88% 0.00% 3.38%

Representation at individual council level When these statistics are disaggregated by individual local authorities, there are many local authorities (close to 80%) without a single woman, while there are few exceptional councils with more than 10% of women. Within the five districts that were the focus of this study, the Trincomalee Urban Council had the highest representation of women who made up 16.6% of its members following the 2006 elections. Table 4: Representation in some Local Authorities 2006 Local Council District Total No. of No of counselors Women Trinco UC Trincomalee 12 Uva Paranagama PS Badulla 19 Verugal PS Trincomalee 7 Niyagama PS Galle 9 Udubaddawa PS Kurunegala 10 Galgamuwa PS Kurunegala 18 Welimada PS Badulla 21 But more than 80 % of local councils do not have a single woman. In 2011, Verugal Pradeshiya Sabha had the highest representation with 28.4% of its members being women. Table 5: Representation in some Local Authorities: 2008-2011 Elections Local Council District Total No. of No of counselors Women Verugal PS Trincomalee 7 Uva Paranagama PS Badulla 19 % of Women 2 28.4% 3 15.7% 8 % of Women 16.6% 15.7% 14.2% 11.1% 10.0% 5.5% 4.7%

2 3 1 1 1 1 1

Seruwila PS Ambalangoda MC Galgamuwa PS Welimada PS

Trincomalee Galle Kurunegala Badulla

9 12 18 21

1 1 1 1

11.1% 8.3% 5.5% 4.7%

But MANY MANY Local councils without a single woman. Party wise representation of women Following the 2006 elections 62.16% of the 74 women elected to local councils were from the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA); the UPFA obtained a landslide victory securing 225 out of 266 councils contested at the 2006 elections. These local government elections followed the 2004 parliamentary election victory of the UPFA and also the victory of Mahinda Rajapakse of the UPFA at the presidential elections held in November 2005.5 Sixteen point two percent (16.21%) of all elected women were from the UNP , 9.45% from the JVP, 4.05% from ITAK, and 1.35% from the TMVP respectively. Moreover, 8.10% of the elected women got elected from independent groups.6 It should however be noted that 5 of the 6 independent candidates who were elected to local councils are from independent groups which were endorsed by the UNP7 (following the rejection of their lists) and therefore cannot strictly be considered to have won on their independent credentials. In fact, Independent Group No. 3 contested the Colombo Municipal Council elections as a proxy party for the UNP following the rejection of the UNP list by the Elections Commissioner, and then refused to honour the pre-electoral agreement to give up their seats to UNP candidates. This is significant because if the agreement was adhered to, the 4 women from Independent Group no. 3 would have lost their seats to UNP candidates who may not have been women. This just left Sajeewani Nissansala Peiris who contested the Moratuwa Municipal Council as a lone woman candidate to have won these elections from an Independent Group. Her victory as an independent candidate is a remarkable one given the difficulties of winning as independents under the PR system and in the current political climate in Sri Lanka. Table 6: Party-wise representation of women in local authorities
2006 Total no of As a % of total elected women no of elected from each women political Party 2008-2011 Total no of As a % of total elected women no of elected from each women political Party

UPFA UNP
5

46 12

62.16% 16.21%

49 22

57.64% 25.88%

Local government elections in Sri Lanka heighten political instability, By K. Ratnayake, 30 March 2006. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/sril-m30.shtml. 6 There was one woman who was elected to Eheliyagoda PS from the United Socialist Party (USP), who never took up her seat. 7 The UNP endorsed Independent Group No.3 from Colombo which contested under the symbol of the Spectacles and Independent Group No. 2 from Seethawaka PS which contested under the symbol of the Ship.

JVP ITAK TMVP SLMC AITAK CWC National Workers Congress Independent Groups

7 3 1 0 0 0 0 6 74

9.45% 4.05% 1.35% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 8.10% 100.00

1 5 3 2 1 1 1 0 85

1.17% 5.88% 3.52% 2.35% 1.17% 1.17% 1.17% 0.00% 100.00

Following the 2008-2011 elections the overwhelming majority of women elected (57.64%) remained from the UPFA on account of UPFAs winning streak. The UNP women represented 25.22% and ITAK women represented 5.88% of all women elected members. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) perhaps for the first time in its history returned not one but two women to local government bodies. Although a number of women contested as independent candidates, not a single woman from an independent group won at the 2008-2011 elections. Ethnic representation It should also be noted that the overwhelming majority of women represented in local councils are from the Sinhala community. From the 74 women elected to local government following the 2006 elections, 65 (87.8%) were from the Sinhala community, 8 (10.8%) from the Tamil community and only 1 (1.3%) woman elected was from the Muslim community. Table 7: Elected women by Party and Ethnicity
Total no of elected women from each political Party Sinhala As a % of total of women As a % Tamil Muslim

UpFA UNP JVP ITAK Independent Groups

46 12 7 3 6 74

45 11 7 0 2 65

97.8% 91.6% 100.0% 0.0% 33.3% 87.8%

1 0 0 3 4 8

2.2% 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 67.3% 10.8%

0 1 0 0 0 1

0.0% 8.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.3%

It should be noted that of the 8 Tamil women elected, 4 were from Independent Group No. 3 (see above) which contested the Colombo Municipal Council elections as a proxy party for the UNP. Kadirai is the only plantation Tamil woman to be elected from the Ambagamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha in the Nuwara Eliya District. In the 2008-2011 elections, the ethnic breakdown of the women in elected to local government is as follows: 67 (78.8%) Sinhalese, 15 (17.6%) Tamil and 3 (3.5%) are Muslim women.

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Table 8: Elected Women by Party and Ethnicity

Total no of elected women from each political Party Sinhala As a % of total of women As a % Tamil Muslim

UpFA UNP ITAK TMVP SLMC JVP AITAK CWC

National Workers Congress

49 22 5 3 2 1 1 1 1 85

44 20 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 67

89.0% 91.0% 0.0% 0.0% 50% 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 78.8%

5 0 5 3 0 0 1 1 1 15

11.0% 0.0% 100.0% 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 17.6%

0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3

0.0% 9.0% 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.5%

Representation of Tamil women almost doubled following the 2008 -2011 elections, given that elections were held to local authorities after the end of the war in the East in 2008 and in the North in 2009 after a hiatus of many years. The number of Muslim women also increased from one to three. Youth Quota While it was not possible to ascertain how many of the women elected obtained nominations under the youth quota for all districts, in the five districts that were studied in-depth for this survey, a fair percentage of elected women did come in through the youth quota. In 2006, 25% of elected women came in through nominations secured under the youth quota. Table 9: Women elected from the youth quota in the Selected Five Districts 2006 District Total No. of No of Women Women % of Women counselors elected from youth quota Badulla 216 6 2 33.3% Moneragala 104 1 0 0.0% Kurunegala 338 2 0 0.0% Trincomalee 118 5 1 20.0% Galle 244 2 1 50.0% Total 16 4 25.0% In the 2008-2011 elections, 28.6% of elected women came in through the youth quota. Table 10: Women elected from the youth quota in the Selected Five Districts 2006 Total No. of No of Women Women % of Women District
counselors elected from youth quota

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Badulla Galle Kurunegala Moneragala Trincomalee Total

215 244 338 104 118

5 2 3 0 4 14

1 0 1 0 2 4

20.0% 0.0% 33.3% 0.0% 50.0% 28.6%

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2. Nominations for Women

In democratic systems, the policies and practices of political parties are critical in either advancing or inhibiting womens representation in political arena. As many writers point out, it is difficult to overstate the importance of party systems in any analysis of womens political representation as they act as gatekeepers in the election process by setting the criteria and selecting candidates (Lovenduski 2002, Matland 2005). One important reason for the very low representation of women in local government in Sri Lanka appears to be the unwillingness of political parties to grant nominations to women in good numbers. In Sri Lanka, political parties appear to have not shouldered as much responsibility as they could have to advance womens representation in politics. Their lack of internal democracy, the absence of women in the higher echelons of party decision making, the lack of support for women candidates and well-established male dominated networks spanning the national to local levels are among the major barriers. While most political parties in Sri Lanka have a womens wing, these wings do not function to increase womens representation. They exist mainly to mobilize the female constituency during elections in support of their party candidates, mostly male, from their parties. In between elections, womens wings, when active, may engage in welfare work and provision of benefits for women members. For women who are genuinely interested in politics, membership in womens wings does not pave the way to mainstream politics and political leadership (Kodikara 2008, de Silva 1995). While information on nominations given to women at local government level is not readily available, De Silva provides the following information on nominations for elections held in 1987 and 1991. Table 11:No. of candidates at Local Government elections of 1987 and 1991
Municipal Councils Total 1987 641 Nominat ions for women 22 % of Nominat ions for women 3.4 Total 984 Urban Councils Nominat ions for women 31 40 % of Nominat ions for women 3.1 2.7 Total 7198 13,385 Pradeshiya Sabhas Nominati ons for women 133 325 % of Nomination s for women 1.8 2.4

1991 1152 44 3.8 1453 Source: Elections Department cited by De Silva (1995: 233).

Official nominations statistics for local government elections held since 1991 was not available for this study. However according to a newspaper report more than 4000 women did get nominations at the 2006 local government elections from a total of 29155 nominations given by 21 political parties and 275 Independent Groups.8 If this is accurate, clearly there is a dramatic increase in nominations for women from 2.5% in 1991 to 16.2% in 2006. This is consistent with the nominations record of the major parties at recent parliamentary and provincial council elections. A 2009 study on womens
8

http://community.sinhalajukebox.org/article.php?story=20060330094003521&mode=print

13

representation in political institutions (Kodikara 2009) revealed that while there is an increase in nominations for women in recent years9, this increase is mainly due to smaller political parties and independent groups that proliferated following the introduction of proportional representation and not from the major political parties which win the majority of seats. Therefore, the increase in nominations has not translated into electoral gains for women. The pattern at local levels appears to be somewhat different. Table 12: Nominations for women at local government elections 1987 - 2006 Year Total No of No. of Women % of Women candidates 1987 8853 186 2.1% 1991 15990 409 2.5% 1997 Not available Not available Not available 2002 Not available Not available Not available 2006 29155 4739 16.2% 2011 Not available Not available Not available Source: 1987 and 1991 statistics: Elections Department cited by De Silva (1995:233) A scrutiny of nomination papers filed by the UPFA, UNP, JVP, and ITAK in the five selected districts of Badulla, Galle, Kurunegala, Moneragala and Trincomalee in 2006 and 2011 reveals wide variations in nominations depending on the party, the district as well as particular local authority. In fact, the nominations for women by the major parties ranged between zero to 15%. This section looks at nominations granted to women by the UPFA, UNP, JVP and ITAK in the five selected districts and provides information on nominations disaggregated by district, select individual local authorities in these districts, number of women who obtained nominations under the youth quota and the ethnic breakdown of nominated women. Nominations for women disaggregated by Party, District and Individual Council levels In 2006, nominations of women by the UPFA in the five districts ranged from a high of 5.7% in Moneragala to a low of 3.2% in Galle, while in 2011 it ranged from a high of 5.2% in Badulla to a low of 1.9% in Kurunegala. As an average, UPFA nominations for women decreased from 4.1% in 2006 to 3.4% in 2011. Nominations of women by the UNP ranged from 6.3% in Badulla to 1.4% in Moneragala in 2006 and a high of 15.3% in Trincomalee to 1.4% in Moneragala in 2011. The average number of nominations recorded a very slight increase from 4.2% in 2006 to 4.8% in 2011. In the case of the JVP, nominations for women ranged from a high of 26.2% in Trincomalee

In parliamentary elections, from 1994 to 2004, the percentage of female candidates more than doubled.

14

to 4.1% in Kurengala in 2006 and a high of 14.6% in Trincomalee to a low of 4.2% in Badulla in 2011. The average number of nominations given to women increased slightly from 6.3% to 7.5%. Nominations for women by ITAK, which only contested in Trincomalee out of the five selected districts, increased from 9.7% to 16.5%.

The most dramatic increase in nominations at the District level was by the UNP in Trincomalee District, which increased nominations given to women from 2.5% in 2006 to 15.3% in 2011. The JVP doubled its nominations to women in Moneragala from 4.3% in 2006 to 8.6% 2011. ITAK also increased nominations of women from 9.7% in 2006 to 16.5% in 2011. The most significant decrease in nominations was by the JVP in Trincomalee where nominations fell from 26.2% to 14.65% in 2011. Table 13: Nominations for Women: 2006 Local Government Elections *UPFA
Total no of nomin ations Nomin ations for wome n % Total no of Nomin ations

UNP
Nomin ations for wome n % Total no of nomin ations

JVP
Nomin ations for wome n % Total no of nomin ations

ITAK
Nomin ations for wome n %

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

284 307 427 138 117

12 10 15 8 6

4.2% 3.2% 3.5% 5.7% 5.1%

284 327 439 138 117

18 15 17 2 3

6.3% 4.5% 3.8% 1.4% 2.5%

284 327 439 138 103

13 17 18 6 27

4.5% 5.5% 4.1% 4.3% 26.2%

133 133

13 13

9.7% 9.7%

Moneragala Trincomalee
Total

1273

51

4.1%

1305

55

4.2%

1291

81

6.3%

Source: compiled by author from nomination lists filed at the Department of Elections

Table 14: Nominations for Women: 2011 Local Government Elections *UPFA
Total no of nomin ations Nomin ations for wome n % Total no of Nomin ations

UNP
Nomin ations for wome n % Total no of nomin ations

JVP
Nomin ations for wome n % Total no of nomin ations

ITAK
Nomin ations for wome n %

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

286 327 454 138 157

15 12 9 5 5

5.2 3.7 1.9 3.7 3.2

286 327 454 138 157

9 14 17 2 24

3.1 4.3 3.7 1.4 15.3

286 327 454 138 157

12 23 32 12 23

4.2 7.0 7.0 8.7 14.6 109 109 17 17 15.6 15.6%

Moneragala Trincomalee
Total

1362

46

3.4%

1362

66

4.8%

1362

102

7.5%

15

There were however wide variations in nominations for women at the level of individual local authorities. In 2006 the JVP gave the highest number of nominations to women with 68.7% nominations given to women in the list for Trincomalee Urban Council. In 2011, this distinction went to the UNP, which fielded an all woman list for Verugal Pradeshiya Sabha. It is noteworthy that both in 2006 and 2011 there was at least one woman in every list fielded by ITAK in the Trincomalee District. It is also significant to note that amongst the five selected districts, Trincomalee records the highest proportion of women nominees amongst the ITAK, JVP and the UNP in 2006 and 2011. This appears, at least to some extent, to have to do with the relative hesitation of men, especially younger men, to play a prominent public role given the conflict. Other instances where women secured more than 20% of the nominations in 2006 have to be credited to the JVP nomination lists in Gomarankadawela PS (33.3%), Kuliyapitiya PS (25%), Seruwila PS (24.9%), Trinco town and Gravets PS (24.9%), Thambalagamuwa PS (24.9%), Mawathagama PS (23.59%), Ambalangoda PS (20%). ITAK also gave 22.2% of its nomination to women in Kinniya UC. In 2011, party lists which had more than 20% of women were as follows: JVP lists in Thambalagamuwa PS, Padavisripura PS and Trinco Town and Gravets PS (33.3%); UNP list in Kinniya UC (22.2%) and the ITAK lists in Morawewa PS (41.67%) and Kinniya UC (22.2%). The highest nominations given to women by the UPFA across the five districts was 18.18% in Welivita Divitura PS in Galle and 16.67% in Soranatota PS in Badulla. Nominations under the Youth Quota In 1990, a 40% quota for youthdefined as those between the age of 18 and 35 yearscandidates was made mandatory in nomination lists for local authority elections. Non-fulfillment of this requirement meant that the list would be rejected. A question for those working to increase representation for women has always been to what extent the youth quota benefited young women. There are no studies on the gendered impact of the youth quota on representation. However as part of this study, ICES attempted to ascertain how many young women obtained nominations under the youth quota in the five selected districts. In 2006, of the total number of nominations given to youth across all five selected districts the percentage of women nominees by party was follows: 2.9% for UPFA; 7.0% by the UNP; 8.9% by the JVP, and 13.7% by ITAK. At the district level, the JVP had the best record with 40.5% of its nominations under the youth quota given to women in Trincomalee. In 2011, nominations for women under the youth quota across all five districts were as follows: 4.8% by the UPFA, 5.5% by the UNP, 13.95% by the JVP and 22.2% by ITAK. At the district level, the best nominations record was with the JVP who gave 26.1% of nominations to women. Of the total number of women elected in the five selected districts, more than half had secured nominations under the youth quota in 2006 and 2011.

16

Ethnicity of women nominated With reference to ethnicity, the majority of women who obtained nominations from the UPFA, UNP and JVP in the five districts were Sinhala, with the exception of UNP in Trincomalee District. The UNP gave nominations to fifteen Tamil women (62.5%) and four Muslim women (16.6%) in Trincomalee. In Verugal PS, the UNP fielded an all women list comprising 9 women, all Tamil. All the women who obtained nominations from ITAK in Trincomalee were Tamil.

Table 15: Nominations for Women by the UPFA 2006

UPFA

Nominations
Total no of nomin ations Nomina tions for women % of total Sinhal a %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Musli m % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No fo women % of youth quota % from no of wome n

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

284 307 427 138 117

12 10 15 8 6

4.2% 3.2% 3.5% 5.7% 5.1%

11 10 14 8 5
48

91.6% 100% 93.3% 100% 83.3%

87.3%

1 0 1 0 0
2

8.4% 0.0% 6.7% 0.0% 0.0%

3.6%

0 0 0 0 1
1

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 16.7%

1.8%

113 124 170 55 50

512

5 5 5 2 3 20

4.4% 4.0% 2.9% 3.6% 6.0% 2.9%

41.6% 50.0% 33.3% 25.0% 50.0% 39.2%

Moneragala Trincomalee

1273

51

4.1

Table 16: Nominations by the UPFA 2011

UPFA

Nominations
Total no of nomin ations Nomina tions for women % of total Sinhala %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Muslim % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No of young women % of youth quota % from no of women

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

286 327 454 138 157

15 12 9 5 5

5.2% 3.7% 1.9% 3.7% 3.2%

12 12 9 5 4
42

80% 100% 100% 100% 80%

91.3%

3 0 0 0 1
4

20% 0% 0% 0% 20%
8.7%

0 0 0 0 0
0

0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0%

115 131 177 55 65

543

9 8 4 3 2 26

7.8% 6.1% 2.2 5.4 3.1 4.8

60.0 66.7 44.4 60.0 40.0 56.5

Moneragala Trincomalee

1362

46

3.4%

17

Table 17: Nominations for Women by the UNP 2006 *UNP Nominations
Total no of nomin ations Nominat ions for women % Sinhala %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Muslim % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No of wome n % of youth quota 5of no of women

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

284 327 439 138 117 1305

18 15 17 2 3 55

6.3% 4.5% 3.8% 1.4% 2.5% 4.21

14 15 17 2 3 51

77.7% 100% 100% 100% 100% 92.7%

4 0 0 0 0 4

22.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 7.3%

0 0 0 0 0 0

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0%

116 130 175 55 50 527

12 11 10 1 3 37

9.5% 8.4% 5.7% 1.8% 6.0% 7.0%

66.6% 73.3% 58.8% 50.0% 100% 67.3%

Moneragala Trincomalee

Table 18: Nominations for Women by the UNP 2011 *UNP Nominations
Total no of nominati ons Nomin ations for women % Sinhal a %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Musli m % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No fo women % of youth quota 5of no of wome n

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

286 327 454 138 157

9 14 17 2 24

3.1 4.3 3.7 1.4 15.3

9 14 17 2 5 47

100% 100% 100% 100% 20.8% 71.2%

0 0 0 0 15 15

0% 0% 0% 0% 62.5% 22.7%

0 0 0 0 4 4

0% 0% 0% 0% 16.6% 6.1%

115 131 177 55 65 543

0 9 10 1 10 30

0.0 6.9 5.6 1.8 15.4 5.5

0.0 64.3 58.8 50.0 41.7 45.4

Moneragala Trincomalee

1362

66

4.8

Table 19: Nominations by the JVP JVP Nominations

Total no of nomin ations Nominati ons for women % Sinhal a %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Musli m % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No fo wome n % of youth quota 5of no of women

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

284 327 439 138 103 1291

13 17 18 6 27 81

4.5% 5.5% 4.1% 4.3% 26.2% 6.3%

11 16 18 6 27

84.6% 94.1% 100% 100% 100%

2 0 0 0 0

15.4 % 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

0 1 0 0 0

0.0% 0.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

116 130 175 55 42 518

11 8 7 3 17 46

9.4% 6.1% 4.0% 5.4% 40.5% 8.9%

84.6% 47.0% 38.8% 50% 62.9% 56.8%

Moneragala Trincomalee

78

96.3 %

2 2.5%

1.2

18

Table 20: Nominations by the JVP 2011 JVP Nominations

Total no of nomin ations Nomin ations for wome n % Sinhal a %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Musli m % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No fo wome n % of youth quota 5of no of wome n

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

286 327 454 138 157

12 23 32 12 23

4.2 7.0 7.0 8.7 14.6

12 23 32 11 22

100% 100% 100% 91.7% 95.6

0 0 0 1 0

0% 0% 0% 8.3% 0

0 0 0 0 1

0% 0% 0% 0% 4.4%

115 131 177 55 65 543

9 16 24 10 17 76

7.8 12.2 13.5 18.2 26.1 13.9%

75.0 69.6 75.0 83.3 73.9 74.5

Moneragala Trincomalee

1362

102

7.5

100

98.2

0.9

0.9

Table 21: Nominations by ITAK ITAK Nominations

Total no of nomin ations Nomin ations for wome n % Sinhal a %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Musli m % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No fo wome n % of youth quota 5of no of wome n

Badulla
Galle Kurunegala

133

13

9.7%

0.0%

13

100%

0.0%

51

13.7%

53.8%

Moneragala Trincomalee

Table 22: Nominations by ITAK ITAK Nominations

Total no of nomin ations Nomin ations for wome n % Sinhal a %

Ethnicity
Tamil % Musli m % Total youth Quota

Youth Quota
No fo wome n % of youth quota 5of no of wome n

Badulla

109

18

16.5?

0%

18

100%

0%

45

10

22.2

58.8

Galle Kurunegala
Monaragala

Trincomalee

19

References: Department of Elections (2006) Local Authorities Elections 2006: Detailed Results (Votes and preferences) for all Districts. Evertzen Annette (2001) Local Government, Governance and Gender, SNV - Netherlands Development Organisation, April 2001 The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary No. 1433/22, 22nd Febrarury 2006. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary No. 1433/38, 22nd Febrarury 2006. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary No. 1433/44, 22nd Febrarury 2006. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary No. 1433/39, 22nd Febrarury 2006. The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Extraordinary No. 1433/43, 22nd Febrarury 2006. International Center for Ethnic Studies Kodikara, Chulani (2009) The Struggle for Equal Political Representation of Women in Sri Lanka: A stocktaking report for the Ministry of Child Development and Womens Empowerment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils (2008) Essential Information on Provincial Councils and Local Government, Colombo. Sacchet Teresa (2005) Political Parties: When do they work for Women? http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/eql-men/docs/EP.10_rev.pdf Slater, Richard (1997) Approaches to strengthening local government: lessons from Sri Lanka, Public Administration and Development, Vol. 17, 251-265 Local Government Reform In Sri Lanka: Anti-Corruption/ Governance/Civil Society Strengthening, International Center for Ethnic Studies, http://www.ices.lk/research/introduction.shtml Political Recruitment to the Australian Legislature: Toward an Explanation of Women's Electoral Disadvantages Political Research Quarterly June 1991 44: 467-485, http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Statistics:_1975_and_Beyond Websites: Department of Elections website. http://www.slelections.gov.lk/localAuthorities.html Local Government Forum: http://www.localgovforum.lk/